“I need a Social Security stamp.”

Fabio Souza, edited by Vitor Reinho

The problem of lack of labor has been felt more and more throughout the country. Although it is most visible in the areas of tourism and restaurants, it is something that has spread to other areas and services in Portuguese society. Eva, who owns her own hairdresser, has had a vacancy for a month and a half and so far no one has shown interest in this. Something “never happened to me,” Eva says, adding that this year “is the worst.”
In Ferreira e Capitão Nunes, Lda, Antonio has been working as a butcher for over 30 years. He opened his own butcher shop upon his return from France, where he had emigrated. The owner of the shop posted the job advertisement on the door of the shop “more than a month ago,” and according to him, “no one answers.” Despite living through times of crisis, El Gazzar understands that people, mostly “young people, don’t want to learn”. I have a lot of working hours and young people do not want to learn the profession. There is nothing else. And sometimes they like Pingo Doce and that stuff, where they work half a dozen hours and also get paid half. But don’t worry about it.” Like him, Paulo Costa, owner of Alcântara Garage, has the same problem. Posted more than a month and a half ago, ads for mechanics and plate-beating are still unfilled. People “just don’t want to work. That’s point #1. I’ve had an ad for a committee meeting for a month and a half,” he says excitedly, adding, “Look, the few who responded to my ad are people between the ages of 40 and 45, and most of them are . But people don’t want that. The first thing people ask me is what time it is and how much they will earn. Others say it is not possible because it is far away. And there are some who come to work, but as I see they have never been bodybuilders or mechanics before, I pay them with life and go about their business.”

With or without training, all are welcome Although Antonio advertises a job that requires learning and specialization, he accepts workers who want to learn the profession. “The people who respond don’t have training, they’re not categorical. They don’t understand any of this,” however, when asked if he offered training, he replied in a disappointing tone, “If they keep showing up.” Paulo Costa faces a similar situation, in his workshop, of those who show interest in vacancies “about 70% or 80%” who do not have a specialization or training in the area. “I give training to those who have already worked in the automotive world. I had guys working in cafes and clothes shops. In this case, I don’t give training because now I’m without help. If someone else helps me here, maybe I can even give it, not on my own now.”

On Jobscm.pt there are dozens of job offers, and the largest offer was in the field of catering and hospitality (adding, to the date of the news, a total of 145 job offers). Next, with less than a hundred offers, are the areas of Construction, with 58 offers, and Automotive, with 51. When looking at the description of each offer, it is noted that most of them require the candidate to have some training or experience. Paulo Costa believes more support from the government is needed in the event that he cannot find specialist candidates and needs to fill out a job offer. The mechanic argues that ‘there are no incentives for companies to get an apprentice here, someone who doesn’t know how to do anything, we have to provide training. minimum wage.” This confirms that paying minimum wages “is for someone who knows how to do something. I cannot give minimum wages to someone who doesn’t know how to do anything.”

In the search for specialized labor, Ana Geralds of Ernesto e Alexandre, Lda, which sells casings and materials to hotel and restaurant companies, is forced to turn to temporary work companies to facilitate assistance, but even then she does not change. landscaping a lot. “We are all struggling with great difficulty in finding qualified personnel and have turned to a temporary employment company, specifically to help us carry out this recruitment.” Anna also adds that they are forced to use this method because when they place direct ads on the job platform, “people simply don’t respond.”

In some cases, Anna visited “three or four vocational art schools” as a means of direct contact with young people who had just completed their major. “Wow,” Anna admits, nervous, “they’re guys with skills in this field, let’s give them a job, and where are they? They don’t show up.” For the saleswoman, young people choose these courses not for training, but only because they “want to get past twelfth grade without going through the classic high school” and once they “have what they want to achieve, the rest is not for them.” interest.” “Deep down, they want to have a diploma in their hands, which is a straw with the twelfth year of which it is actually useless or very little, but they think that this qualification will give them a blessing that does not exist in this country. They take these vocational technical courses and no one ever leaves that course. Once people complete the twelfth grade, what they manage to achieve they have already achieved with them and the rest doesn’t matter to them at all.”

“Stamp me something from Social Security.” During a break, between shifts trying to cut and comb hair, Anna says that in addition to the difficulty of finding someone to fill the vacancy, those who show up for the trial don’t want to work. The hairdresser sees that “People don’t want to work, they want a job, but they don’t want to work. They just want to make money. I know no one turns up and you don’t tell me it’s a lack of work. These people want to have an unemployment fund, support for this and that, so It’s not worth the work.” Anna is not the only one who argues that many unemployed people would rather receive benefits from the Unemployment Fund and other benefits than work. It’s a pity. It makes a great impression on me, I must say that they are young, some of them the age of my children, others much older. To see that people, given the fragility of the lives we all live in, aren’t clinging to work, they just want to “stamp something from Social Security here about how I was here,” Annabella Geralds admits with a cathartic tone. The saleswoman says that the few people who go through the interview put up a lot of obstacles. “People set me up like ‘So, but I can’t take the car home?'” And I say, “No, you have the car to work, at the end of the day leave the car here.” The next day, it’s back again by public transportation. We also want hiring to always take place in an area close to our company, because life is hard for everyone, right? There was a case of someone telling me he could only come here if his parents came to pick him up and take him away.” Many of the justifications he receives are also “neither a tail nor a tail”, says Paulo Costa, adding that he understands “that it is easier to be unemployed, receive support and so on”.

From the few responses they received, these employers noted that they were always between the ages of 40 and 55. In the case of the Ernesto e Alexandre, Lda company sales position, this is exactly the case. “What happens is that not only are people responding, but older people are responding as well, some in their 70s and 80s. […] who later ended up scheduling an interview with me, as I had not disproved the possibility. We are talking about people who have experiences that cannot be taken away from them. I mean, I think it’s important that they come to us.” Anna also says they had to expand “the age limit to get more coverage, because I know there are so many people who are out of work because of bankruptcies or bankruptcies, and all that. I’m starting to think that there are people who are more willing to work at 45 or 55, because the job market is starting to close in on them. And I think they’re even people with skills.”

As the government announces more and more support measures, these employers fear that people may be holding on to benefits rather than hanging on to work.